Volunteers Now Manage Landscape Maintenance in Detroit

Financially distressed Detroit is now depending on
volunteers to manage its city parks, landscapes and other green spaces. As a
state-appointed emergency manager oversees public functions of the city, a
group of volunteers who are calling themselves the “Mower Gang,” is taking care
of landscaping and neighborhood parks as traditional public works programs have
been reduced or eliminated altogether.

The city’s parks were in danger of becoming an eyesore until
volunteers stepped forward. In some parks, the weeds had grown so high that
children could not play safely. “When the system fails us, you have to become
the system,” said Mitch Logan, 48, a film producer who does landscape work as
part of the Mower Gang. Through word-of-moth and participation on Facebook, the
Mower Gang has grown to over 20 volunteers.

“I understand how the budget works but I’m mad at the city,”
said Tom Nardone, a Mower Gang founder, about the deterioration of city parks. Local
government is $327 million in debt, forcing cutbacks in just about every public
service from police to public transportation. Other groups of volunteers have
planted trees and taken park restoration work into their own hands.